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Background: Surveillance footage allegedly shows Salman Haji inside a Washington state Costco before the shooting death of 67-year-old Yuam Ming (KOMO/U.S. Attorney’s Office). Left inset: Yuam Ming’s car after she was shot and killed at a Costco in Tukwila, Wash., last year (KING/YouTube). Right inset: Salman Haji at a grocery store less than an hour before he allegedly opened fire on Yuam Ming at the Costco, per the U.S. Attorney’s Office (DOJ).
A 20-year-old man has been deported from Kenya and taken into custody by the FBI for allegedly gunning down a Washington state woman in a Costco parking lot last year, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Federal prosecutors confirmed to Law&Crime on Tuesday that Salman Haji, who was 19 at the time of the January 2024 shooting, has been apprehended and removed from East Africa after being indicted last year on murder and attempted robbery charges for Yuam Ming’s death in Tukwila.
The 67-year-old was loading groceries into her car with her sister when Haji and another suspect, Ilyiss Abdi, 20, set upon them in an alleged robbery attack over a purse, according to DOJ officials.
Surveillance footage released by prosecutors and posted online by local ABC affiliate KOMO allegedly shows Haji and Abdi inside a grocery store in Normandy Park around 40 minutes before heading to the Costco in Tukwila where Ming and her sister were targeted. They were also allegedly caught on camera attacking the pair and shooting Ming as she tried helping her sister during a struggle over the woman’s purse, the DOJ reports.
Prosecutors say Haji and Abdi allegedly drove up on the sisters in a stolen Porsche Cayenne, which they swiped earlier in the day from another local woman.
According to the indictment and police reports, Haji stole the vehicle at gunpoint from the victim as she was driving on Queen Anne Hill. Haji was following the woman and “rear-ended her to cause her to pull over,” per the DOJ.
“While attempting to retrieve insurance information from the glove box, Haji held a gun to the victim and demanded the keys to the vehicle and money,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a press release. “Haji then drove off in the vehicle.”
Prosecutors say Haji fled to Kenya sometime after the Costco shooting. He was indicted in June 2024 and charged with murder and attempted robbery.
“Mr. Haji was deported from Kenya and taken into custody by the FBI,” said DOJ Public Affairs Officer Emily Langlie in a statement to Law&Crime on Tuesday.
“This defendant needs to be held accountable,” said U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman in a statement last year after Haji was indicted.
Haji’s location and incarceration status was unclear Tuesday morning.
